Marked Review

Marked By P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast
(Book 1 In The House of Night Series)

Zoey Montgomery was just a normal 16 years old teenager going to Broken Arrow's South Intermediate High School, who wants to be done with school and get the hell away from that city. Everyday she has to stuggle with her crazy God obsesed stepfather who is totally fake, and she has hated him since her mom 3 years ago married him. Her mom, who hasn´t been her mom since she married him, who is always on his side. Her 2 sibling, who pretends to be happy, but really isn´t. Zoey is coming down with a cold and then one day at school she gets Marked with the symbol of a dark blue crescented moon, by a vampyre Tracker. She knows that she now has to move into the House of Night, in Tulsa's Midtown, a private vampyre school and go there for 4 years or else she will die if she doesn´t complete the change. Her best friends Kayla is with her when it happens in the abandon hall, but she quickly flees, being as scared as everyone else by the vampyre thing, eventhough Zoey is still Zoey. She tries to talk to her mom when she gets home, but before long her mom has called her stepdad and her stepdad called the priests and shrinks and blaming Zoey for everything. So Zoey runs away to her Grandma Redbirds house. Zoey and her Cherokee heritage Granma are close and share the same opinions, a heritage Zoey also have.

When Zoey tries to find her Grandma she trips a hits her head and gets her spirit out of her body. In her spirit she meets Nyx The vampyre Goddess, who names Zoey her eyes and ears in the world today. When Zoey wakes up she is at the House Of Night with her Grandma and gets introduced to her mentor and full vampyre high priestess of Nyx, Neferet. What the 3 of them can´t seem to figure out is why the tatoo in her forehead is fully grown with color, and that is unnormal for a girl her age and a girl who has just been marked. Neferet shows her around, but when she has to go away for a minute, Zoey accidentally sees a girl trying to give a guy a blowjob. The guy tries to get the girl of, and after sees Zoey who runs. When Zoey gets to the girls dorm a girl named Aphrodite is friendly, but as soon as they are alone she is a cold bitch who thinks everything is about her, and Zoey realises that she was the girl with the guy. Zoey then meets her roommate Stevie Rae Johnson, and later at dinner she meets her friends, who quickly become Zoey´s friends: Damien, Erin and Shaunee - who is called the twins. She gets explained that she herself is a third former and that it goes up to six and then you are done with school That night she gets invited by Aphrodite who is kind of leader of the popular to join The Dark Daughters/sons, who Stevie explains is a group for the most popular kids who thinks they run the school. Eventhough Zoey doesn´t want to have anything to do with them, Stevie and the other says that it is best because Neferet already has approved of it. The next day Zoey has her classes who is much more interesting that it was in high school. At The Dark Daughters ritual that night, as part of the ritual they al drink something from a cup, she after finds out it was wine with blood and gets mad at herself and thinks she is a monster, because she really wanted the blood. Zoey then runs into a cat outside who chooses Zoey as her person, as cats does. While outside Zoey thinks she sees a girl who died today, because she couldn´t complete the change, ghost. After that Heath her almost exboyfriend and Kayla shows up wanting to bust her out, Kayla is only interested in Heath, but Heath loves Zoey, and zoey ends up drinking some of his blood before they leave and he doesn´t freak out. Erik the show up having seen the whole thing and tells her that it is only at your last year of the change when you are sixth former, that you get bloodlust, and that Zoey like everybody else says is speciel, he also tells her he is interested in her.

Zoey and Stevie talk at night, where Zoey tells her that under the ritual in the temple earlier she felt the elements when they were being called, Stevie tells her that Zoey is the first priestess ever to feel all the elements, and that she needs to talk with Neferet about it all. Zoey also thinks that she has been giving these powers so she can take the bitch Aphrodite down, so her and her friends do a ritual, were they all see that Zoey really can feel all the elements. Later Erik shows up, they kiss and make a date. The next day a boy dies from the change too, but later Zey see him thinking he is ghost too until he shows his eyes that is red, just like the girls and you can actually touch him. And by night it is time for another ritual with the Dark Sister, but something goes wrong with the summoning to celebrate and spirits comes and think they can kill heath who suddenly shows up. Zoey friends shows up and Zoey has to take the lead and close the ritual, when Aphrodite wont, and by the end Zoey has a lot of tatoo´s on her shoulders, arms and face. Neferet shows up having seen the whole thing and makes Zoey the new leader of The Darkest Sisters. In the end Aphrodite tells her that from the vision she had that Zoey saw earlier, things have only just begun.

I liked the humor Zoey had in her thoughts and in person. I also liked the fact that the language was so modern and young, because that also gave it humor. I know that many people think the way it is written is immature and too young, but i just think that it made it more funny and better. But i must say that NOBODY says: poopie. I thought it was a good idea that the book and the other books in the series, is written so the story is over a couple of days, because it isn´t rushed and you get a better feeling about the story and characters. I also think that some people judge the book too fast, because like we all know that Aphrodite is bad and that Erik is the perfect boyfriend, but all of that changes if you just read the next couple of books. Okay so a thing i can´t handle is the whole God thing, it was so ridicules. And i really hated Zoey mom and stepdad - Parents doesn´t know everything. So I totally understand Zoey´s feelings, i would want to get out of that house imedietly. And how can they blame this on her and her behavier? Really horrible parents. And shouldn´t a good mom think about her children before she marries a stranger and total asshole. What about the children is just what i am saying. I totally love the whole cat thing, that they have lots of cats there. I just love cats and it just seems so nice and sweet, and the fact that the cat chooses you. I thought the book had so good characters, and lots of new idea´s to the whole Vampire thing, like getting marked. What i didn´t really understood completly was the whole getting marked thing, with the vampire tracker, because the author doesn´t explain it at all, so i was just so confused. and i thing i really hate is that they call it Vampyre instead of Vampire


Grade: 10